Automated bulk location-based actions

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for automating bulk location-based actions in response to disaster events. A system obtains data defining zones related to different geographic locations and configures a set of preferences for each zone. One of the preferences is a command for responding to an event. The system detects a disaster event and determines that a location affected by the event is related to a zone defined at the system. The system obtains sensor data generated by a sensor in the zone that is connected to a monitoring system for the zone. The system generates an alert based on the sensor data and the command and provides the alert to a client device of an entity that manages properties in the zone. The alert provides an assessment of how the disaster event affects items at properties in the zone.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/756,686, filed on Nov. 7, 2018, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

FIELD

This specification relates to electronic devices for a property.

BACKGROUND

Monitoring devices and sensors are often dispersed at various locationsat a property, such as a home or commercial business. These devices andsensors can have distinct functions at different locations of theproperty. Some sensors at a property offer different types of monitoringand control functionality. The control functionality afforded by thesesensors and devices can be leveraged to obtain information about itemsat respective properties that are located in certain areas or geographiclocations.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can beembodied in a computer-implemented method. The method, includes,obtaining, at a monitoring server, data that defines a zone amongmultiple zones, each zone being related to a respective geographiclocation. For each zone among the multiple zones, the method includes,configuring, by the monitoring server, a set of preferences, at leastone preference in the set of preferences being a predefined command forresponding to an event.

The method also includes, detecting an occurrence of a disaster eventthat affects a particular geographic location; determining, by themonitoring server, whether the particular geographic location that isaffected by the disaster event is linked to a first zone that is definedat the monitoring server; and in response to determining that theparticular geographic location affected by the disaster event is linkedto the first zone, obtaining sensor data generated by a sensor at thefirst zone, the sensor being connected to a property monitoring systemof the first zone.

The method further includes, generating, by the monitoring server andbased on the sensor data, an alert that includes a report, wherein thereport provides an assessment of how the disaster event affects an itemat a property in the first zone; and providing, using the monitoringserver, the alert to a client device of an entity that manages theproperty in the first zone.

These and other implementations can each optionally include one or moreof the following features. For example, in some implementations, themethod further includes: providing, by the monitoring server and basedon the sensor data, a first command to the property monitoring system ofthe first zone using at least the predefined command in the set ofpreferences, wherein the predefined command causes the propertymonitoring system to perform a specific action as a response measure tothe occurrence of the disaster event.

In some implementations, the method further includes: performing, by theproperty monitoring system of the first zone, the specific action as aresponse measure to the occurrence of the disaster event, wherein thespecific action is an arming function that activates a security protocolof the property monitoring system. In some implementations, the sensordata indicates whether an item located at the first zone is affected bythe disaster event.

In some implementations, detecting the occurrence of the disaster eventthat affects the particular geographic location includes: obtaining, bythe monitoring server, new data from an external database, the new datadescribing one or more disaster events associated with certaingeographic locations; iteratively analyzing, by the monitoring server,the new data to identify a particular geographic location as beingaffected by the disaster event; and detecting the occurrence of thedisaster event in response to iteratively analyzing the new data.

In some implementations, determining that the particular geographiclocation affected by the disaster event is linked to the first zoneincludes: determining that the first zone is within a thresholdproximity of the particular geographic location such that items at aproperty located within the first zone will be affected by the disasterevent. In some implementations, the set of preferences further includesone or more of: an alert timeout preference; a user notificationpreference; a default action preference; or an inaction preference.

In some implementations, the alert timeout preference specifies whetherthe property monitoring system: performs the default action preferenceafter a predefined timeout period ends without the monitoring serverreceiving a response to the alert; or selects the inaction preferenceafter the predefined timeout period ends without the monitoring serverreceiving a response to the alert.

In some implementations, the disaster assessment report includes one ormore active links, each active link enabling the client device to:adjust one or more preferences in the set of preferences; provide asecond, different command to the property monitoring system to cause theproperty monitoring system to perform a particular action; or transmit abulk action command to one or more property monitoring systems for eachproperty in the first zone.

In some implementations, the method further includes: determining that azone is not defined for a geographic location affected by the disasterevent; in response to determining that a zone is not defined for ageographic location affected by the disaster event, automaticallycreating a new, second zone; and automatically storing the new, secondzone at a storage medium of the monitoring server.

In some implementations, obtaining the sensor data from the sensor atthe first zone includes: analyzing, by the monitoring server, the sensordata; and in response to analyzing the sensor data, determining, by themonitoring server, whether items located at the first zone have beenaffected by the disaster event.

In some implementations, the sensor at the first zone includes at leastone of: an accelerometer sensor; a glass break sensor configured todetect damage to an item at the first zone; or an item location sensorconfigured to detect a physical location of an item relative to alocation of the first zone. In some implementations, the sensor at thefirst zone includes at least one of: a flood detection sensor; a gas orfluid sensor; a smoke detection sensor; or a power sensor configured todetect a loss of electrical power at the zone.

Other implementations of this and other aspects include correspondingsystems, apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform theactions of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices. A computingsystem of one or more computers or hardware circuits can be soconfigured by virtue of software, firmware, hardware, or a combinationof them installed on the system that in operation cause the system toperform the actions. One or more computer programs can be so configuredby virtue of having instructions that, when executed by data processingapparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the actions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a computing system for performing one ormore actions at a property.

FIGS. 2A and 2B each show an example process for performing bulk actionsat a property.

FIG. 3 shows a diagram illustrating an example property monitoringsystem.

FIG. 4 shows an example graphical interface of an application programused to perform one or more actions at a property.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C each show a breakdown of features by event type.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A property, such as a house or a place of business, can be equipped witha monitoring system to enhance the security of the property. Theproperty monitoring system may include one or more sensors, such asmotion sensors, camera/digital image sensors, temperature sensors, waterusage sensors, or electricity usage sensors distributed about theproperty to monitor conditions at the property. In many cases, themonitoring system also includes a control unit and one or more controls,which enable automation of various actions at the property, such assetting a thermostat, controlling water usage, controlling gas usage,controlling electricity usage at the property, or triggering actions orcommands to arm or disarm a security system at the property. Sensors ofthe monitoring system may each be configured to provide certain types ofsensor data, to the control unit, about various types of activitiesoccurring at the property.

Several sensors of the property monitoring system are often allocated orpositioned at various locations of a property or home. The sensor datagenerated by the sensors can describe or indicate a status of items atthe property or provide imagery that gives insight into certainconditions at the property. The items at the property can includewindows, doors, vehicles, pipes, physical structures, and other relateditems or products that are typically located at a home or commercialproperty for use by the occupants or tenants of the property. Ensuringor maintaining the safety and serviceability of certain items andphysical structures at a property is often an important goal for aproperty manager.

However, unfortunate events (e.g., natural disasters, terror attacks, oreven active shooters) may sometimes occur at the property or withinclose proximity to the property. These events can potentially damage,destroy, or otherwise negatively affect the condition of items on theproperty.

In this context, techniques are described for a computing system thatenables performing one or more bulk actions at each property that islocated in a zone defined using a monitoring server of the describedsystem. At least one zone can be a particular location within a largergeographic location and each zone can be automatically defined by thesystem, or manually created by a user of the computing system. Thedescribed techniques can be used to quickly respond to disaster eventsthat occur at or near a property in a zone associated with a propertymanager.

A website or smart home application program that interacts with thecomputing system can include an example filter function that enables auser to filter on their existing properties by location. This filterfeature is configured such that a property manager does not have toscramble to determine all of their property locations that may beaffected by a disaster event such as a hurricane or tornado. Thecomputing system is also configured to perform various bulk actions(e.g., arm all locations) as well as to proactively alert a propertymanager that a disaster has occurred. The following use cases brieflyillustrate the various features afforded by the techniques described inthis document.

Under a first example use case, a commercial security manager (e.g., auser) wants to ensure the safety and security of their properties inrespective zones that are indicated as being vulnerable to a naturaldisaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake. The securitymanager or user accesses their user account of an example alarm orsecurity company (e.g., Alarm.com website). For example, the securitymanager uses their access credentials to log onto the Alarm.com website.The website can include a disaster event filter function and the usercan apply an earthquake history filter to see that several of theirproperties are in an active earthquake zone or that at least oneproperty is located in a particular geographic location that overlaps(or partially overlaps) with an active earthquake/disaster zone.

The system receives user input from the user/security manager whichindicates a selection of an area that encompasses the active earthquakezone. In addition to selecting the area, the user can assign a name tothe selected area, e.g., “Zone_1,” or “Earthquake Zone.” In this manner,the system processes the user input provided by the user to define oneor more zones that encompasses the active earthquake zone. The systemalso receives user input for setting up at least one rule so that whenthere is an earthquake at a location within the zone, within closeproximity to the zone, or within a threshold distance of a property inthe zone, the system can automatically arm a security system for theproperty. The system triggers or transmits an alert that is received ata mobile device of the user to provide details of the earthquake eventand indicate that armed status of the security system of the property.

Under a second example use case, a property manager/user wants toautomatically respond to disasters as soon as possible after themonitoring server detects that a disaster event is likely to affect aproperty managed by the user. The monitoring server enrolls the user inzone creation program. For example, the monitoring server receives andprocesses user input signals to enroll the user in an automatic armingzone creation program. Enrollment in the zone creation program enablesautomatic triggering of one or more default bulk-actions in response todetection of a disaster event that affects a property. So, when anatural disaster or terror attack occurs within a nearby location of aproperty associated with the user's account, relevant data, e.g., sensordata or information describing the event, is pushed to or obtained bythe monitoring server.

In response to detection of the disaster event, the monitoring servercan be configured such that a location zone for arming all monitoringsystems for respective properties within the zone is automaticallycreated and saved for the property manager. After the location zone isautomatically created and saved, the server can then transmit a commandto arm all the security/monitoring systems for the respectiveproperties. In addition to arming the security systems, the monitoringserver can provide an alert to notify the property manager about thezone's creation and about the arming command that was transmitted to armthe systems for each property. The property manager can access theiruser account to view details of the alert or to adjust the armingsettings for each property included in the zone.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example computing system 100 that canbe used to perform one or more bulk actions, or default bulk actions, ata property 102. The property 102 may be, for example, a residence, suchas a single family home, a townhouse, a condominium, or an apartment. Insome examples, the property 102 may be a commercial property, a place ofbusiness, or a public property.

The system 100 can include multiple sensors 120. Each sensor 120 can beassociated with various types of devices that are located at property102, including one or more monitoring or control functions associatedwith systems and devices of the property 102. For example, a sensor canbe associated with a video or image recording device located at theproperty 102, such as a digital camera or other electronic recordingdevice. Similarly, a sensor(s) can be associated with respective utilitymeters, such as water, gas, or electricity meters, utility controldevices, and systems that control the activation or deactivation ofutility functions at property 102. As described above, the property 102is monitored by a property monitoring system. The property monitoringsystem includes a control unit 110 that sends sensor data 125 obtainedusing sensors 120 to a remote monitoring server 160. In someimplementations, the property monitoring systems and monitoring servers160 described herein are sub-systems of system 100.

The monitoring server 160 is configured to create or define one or morezones 104 and configure a set of preferences for each zone 104. Forexample, a user 108 can use the monitoring server 160 to manually definea zone 104 and manually configure a set of preferences for the zone.Alternatively, the monitoring server 160 can also automatically createone or more zones 116 based on existing data and information about aproperty that is stored at system 100. As shown at FIG. 1, each manuallycreated zone 104, or automatically created new zone 116, can be locatedwithin an example larger geographic location 106. The data andinformation used to automatically create a zone 116 can be for aproperty 102 that is assigned to a user account of a property owner orperson that manages the property 102. For example, the monitoring server160 can determine that a potential disaster event 114 is likely toimpact a property 102 and automatically define or create a new zone 116that includes each property that is assigned to, or associated with, aparticular user 108.

In some implementations, the set of preferences can include one or moreuser notification preferences that are used for contacting or alertingthe user in response to the monitoring server 160 detecting anoccurrence of an event 114. For example, at least one notificationpreference can specify a desired alert timeout feature (described below)that is used by the system 100 to alert the user about a potentialdisaster event 114. At least one preference specifies whether themonitoring server 160: i) defaults to a particular action if theproperty manager does not respond to a disaster alert 180 within apredefined timeout setting; or ii) defaults to no action (inaction) ifthe property manager does not respond to the disaster alert 180 withinthe predefined timeout setting.

As described in more detail below, the monitoring server 160 referencesthe set of preferences for a zone 104 to determine a default action(e.g., a bulk action) to be performed at a property 102 in the zone 104.The monitoring server 160 may reference the preferences to determine thedefault action in response to first confirming that the event 114 hascaused damage, or is likely to cause damage, to items at the property102. For example, the monitoring server 160 can reference sensor data125 generated by sensors 120 to first confirm that damage has occurredto items at the property 102. In some implementations, if sensors 120cannot be used to confirm damage or unusual activity after (or during) adisaster event 114, then monitoring server 160 is configured to notperform a default action without first obtaining user confirmation orconsent to perform the action.

In general, when a disaster event 114 occurs, a record may be logged ina relevant external database 145, such as a public/government databaseor a private database managed by a corporate entity. For example, a U.S.government services (USGS) database may record characteristics ofvarious types of events, including natural disasters, storm systems, oreven terror attacks. In some cases, the external database 145 recordsinformation about disaster events 114, such as hurricanes, tropicalstorms, tornados, or earthquakes. For example, the recorded informationcan specify a geographic location of the disaster event 114 andattributes of the disaster event, such as magnitudes for earthquakes ortemperature, wind speed, and precipitation for tropical storms,hurricanes, and tornados.

Monitoring server 160 includes an event detection engine 170 (describedbelow) that is configured to detect an occurrence of a disaster eventthat affects a particular geographic location 106. The monitoring server160 is configured to pull or obtain new data from external database 145and use the event detection engine 170 to analyze the new data. Inresponse to analyzing the new data, the monitoring server 160 may detectthat a user's property 102 is in zone 104 of a geographic location 106that is affected by a disaster event 114.

In some implementations, if no user-created zone 104 exists withinsystem 100 that covers all potentially affected locations, thenmonitoring server 160 is configured to automatically define or create anew zone 116, assign a temporary name (e.g., a temporary name) to thenew zone, and save data describing the new zone 116 at system 100. Theautomatic creation of the new zone 116 enables an example user tocontinually and easily perform a bulk action(s) in an immediateaftermath (e.g., 24 hours) of a disaster event 114, as the user receivesupdated information about the disaster event 114 from system 100.

Referring again to the sensors at the property 102, monitoring server160 pulls or obtains sensor and camera data 125 from one or more sensors120 positioned at the locations of a user's property 102 in the zone104. The monitoring server 160 can use event detection engine 170 toanalyze the obtained sensor data 125 to determine if there is evidencethat a disaster event 114 occurred at the property 102. For example, therelevant sensors in a disaster event scenario (earthquake) wouldinclude: accelerometers that indicate shaking, glass break sensors thatindicate damage to windows and doors, contact sensors that indicatedoors/windows were thrown open or destroyed, flood sensors that indicatebroken water pipes, gas/carbon monoxide sensors that may indicate brokengas lines, smoke detectors that indicate a fire, electricity/powersensors that indicate loss of power, or video analytics technology thatcan compare before and after images to determine whether the earthquake,or other related disaster event 114, shifted things around at theproperty 102.

Each of the sensors 120 can use various types of technology to transmitsensor signal data or to exchange data communications with devices ofsystem 100 (or the property monitoring system). In some implementations,one or more sensors 120 at the property 102 can be at least one of: aZ-Wave enabled sensing device, a Bluetooth enabled sensing device, aWi-Fi enabled sensing device, or a sensing device that uses radio orwireless signal technology. Additional sensor features are described inmore detail below.

The property monitoring system and the control unit 110 can be locatedat the property 102 or at a remote location relative to a location ofthe property 102. In some implementations, the control unit 110 islocated at the property 110, while other units and devices that form theproperty monitoring system are located at a remote location. In otherimplementations, a single property monitoring system can manage orcontrol security features at one or multiple properties, to enhance thesecurity of each property. Alternatively, each property 102 can includeits own respective property monitoring system for managing orcontrolling security features at the property.

The sensors 120 generate sensor data 125 describing various types ofsensed activity at the property 102. For example, the sensors 120 can beone or more of a motion sensor, a water sensor, a water meter, a pipesensor, a flowrate sensor, a shut-off valve position sensor, anelectricity sensor, an electric metering sensor, a special-purposesensor, or various other types of sensors configured to sense certainconditions, statuses, or activities at the property 102. The sensors 120can also include one or more of a microphone, an audio or sound sensor,or an air quality sensor. In some implementations, at least one sensor120 is a sensor that is installed at a utility meter or thatcommunicates with a utility meter (e.g., a water meter or a gas meter).This particular sensor can be configured to control the flow oraccessibility of water or gas at the property 102.

Each of the one or more sensors 120 is configured to generate sensordata 125 that includes information such as activity or status data(e.g., activity parameters) and parameter values that describe orindicate different types of sensed activity at the property 102.Activity parameters can include pixel values for image or video datacollected at the property as well as parameter values for other types ofgraphical data representations indicating a status or condition ofcertain items and access control points at the property. Activityparameters can also include parameter values that indicates water, gas,or other fluids are flowing/moving through a medium (e.g., pipes) at theproperty 102. The medium can be example piping or plumbing lines 112that form a plumbing system or gas lines installed at property 102. Atleast one activity parameter can include a parameter value thatindicates whether electricity is being supplied to the property or anactivation status of various security features that are installed at theproperty 102.

Control unit 110 can be located at the property 102 and may be acomputer system or other electronic device configured to communicatewith the sensors 120 to cause various functions to be performed for theproperty monitoring system or system 100. The control unit 110 mayinclude a processor, a chipset, a memory system, or other computinghardware. In some cases, the control unit 110 may includeapplication-specific hardware, such as a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or otherembedded or dedicated hardware. The control unit 110 may also includesoftware, which configures the unit to perform the functions describedin this document.

In some implementations, a user 108 communicates with the control unit110 through a network connection, such as a wired or wirelessconnection. As indicated above, the user can be a property owner,security manager, property manager, or occupant/resident of the property102. In some implementations, the property owner or user 108communicates with the control unit 110 through a software (“smart home”)application installed on their mobile device 140. The control unit 110can perform various operations related to the property 102 by sendingcommands to one or more of the sensors 120 at the property 102. Forexample, the control unit 110 can activate a camera, change a thermostatsetting, lock or unlock a door/window, open or close a garage door,activate/arm an alarm system, de-activate/de-arm the alarm system,activate or deactivate a shut-off valve, or power on or off a light ofthe property 102. As described in more detail below, the user 108 canuse mobile device 140 to interact with the smart home application andprovide commands to the sensors 120, via the control unit 110, toperform the various operations described in this document.

The control unit 110 can communicate with the remote monitoring server160 via a long-range data link. The long-range data link can include anycombination of wired and wireless data networks. For example, thecontrol unit 110 may exchange information with the monitoring server 160through a wide-area-network (WAN), a cellular telephony network, a cableconnection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), a satellite connection, orother electronic means for data transmission. The control unit 110 andthe monitoring server 160 may exchange information using any one or moreof various communication synchronous or asynchronous protocols,including the 802.11 family of protocols, GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE,CDMA-based data exchange or other techniques.

In some implementations, the control unit 110 also communicates with anauthorized user mobile device 140, possibly through the network 105. Theuser mobile device 140 may be associated with a user 108, such asproperty owner or a resident of the property 102 and may be, forexample, a portable personal computing device, such as a cellphone, asmartphone, a tablet, a mobile device, or other electronic device. Insome examples, the mobile device 140 is an electronic home assistant ora smart speaker. As indicated above, system 100 interacts with amonitoring server 160, which may be remote from the property 102. Themonitoring server 160 can be, for example, one or more computer systems,server systems, or other computing devices. In some implementations, themonitoring server 160 is a cloud computing platform.

The sensors 120 communicates with the control unit 110, for example,through a network 105. The network 105 may be any communicationinfrastructure that supports the electronic exchange of sensor data 125between the control unit 110 and the sensors 120. The network 105 mayinclude a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), theInternet, or other network topology. The network 105 may be any one orcombination of wireless or wired networks and may include any one ormore of Ethernet, cellular telephony, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, ZigBee,Bluetooth, and Bluetooth LE technologies. In some implementations, thenetwork 105 may include optical data links. To support communicationsthrough the network 105, one or more devices of the property monitoringsystem may include communication modules, such as a modem, transceiver,modulator, or other hardware or software configured to enable the deviceto communicate electronic data through the network 105.

The sensors 120 can receive, via network 105, a wireless (or wired)signal that controls operation of each sensor 120. For example, thesignal can cause the sensors 120 to initialize or activate to senseactivity at the property 102 and generate sensor data 125. The sensors120 can receive the signal from monitoring server 160 or from controlunit 110 that communicates with monitoring server 160. In addition todetecting and processing wireless signals received via network 105, thesensors 120 can also transmit wireless signals that encode sensor data125 describing activities at the property 102. In some implementations,the sensors 120 may include, for example, various types of signalprocessing sensors or related wireless sensors that are resilient tocertain weather conditions that may be present at the property 102.

The monitoring server 160 receives and analyzes the sensor data 125encoded in wireless signals transmitted by the sensors 120. For example,the monitoring server 160 analyzes the sensor data 125 encoded in thewireless signals to determine a status or condition of an item that isused by a person at the property. The item can be a known household orcommercial property item, such as windows, doors, vehicles, physicalstructures, mobile structures, or other related items typically locatedat a property. The monitoring server 160 performs various functionsrelating to analyzing or monitoring video and image data as well asother sensor parameter values included in the sensor data 125.

As discussed above, the monitoring server 160 includes an eventdetection engine 170. The event detection engine 170 can be a disasterevent detection engine configured to detect one or more events, e.g.,disaster events, which may be occurring at a given geographic location106 that is linked or related to a zone 104. In general, a geographiclocation 106 may be related to a zone 104 when the zone is defined asbeing within the geographic location 106 or within a threshold proximityto the geographic location 106. In some implementations, the monitoringserver 160 uses the detection engine 170 to process imagery and activitydata indicated by parameters of the sensor data 125 to determine whethera disaster event has adversely affected, will adversely affect, or ispresently adversely affecting, one or more items at a property 102.

In some implementations, the detection engine 170 is an examplemachine-learning engine that is configured to process data obtained fromdatabase 145 as well as sensor data 125 obtained from the sensors 120 atthe property 102. The data obtained from database 145 may describeevents (e.g., weather systems or terror attacks) having potential toadversely affect the property 102 or items located at the property. Themachine-learning engine can process the obtained data from database 145and sensor data 125 to train a predictive model. The predictive modelcan be based on an artificial neural network of the machine-learningengine that is trained to predict or infer that a particular event willadversely affect property 102. The predictive model can process thesensor data 125 with reference to information in the data obtained fromdatabase 145. In response to processing the sensor data 125, thepredictive model is operable to generate inferences about a respectivecondition of items located at one or more of the properties that are ina particular zone. For example, the predictive model is operable togenerate the inferences based on parameter values in the sensor data 125that represents activity detected by the sensors 120 at a property 102.In some examples, the parameter values correspond to imagery, locationdata, status/activity data, or other values that can be processed by apredictive model to infer or predict a current or prospective conditionof an item.

In some implementations, the prediction or inference generated by thepredictive model is represented by a numerical prediction score (e.g.,0.8) that indicates a probability of a disaster event affecting property102. The detection engine 170 can compare the numerical score to athreshold score to determine whether a disaster event will adverselyaffect items at property 102. For example, the detection engine 170determines whether the prediction score (e.g., 0.83) exceeds a thresholdprediction score (e.g., 0.70). In response to determining that theprediction score exceeds the threshold prediction score, the detectionengine 170 detects an occurrence of a disaster event that affects theproperty 102 or a particular geographic location, such as a geographiclocation 106 that defines a zone 104 that includes multiple properties102.

In response to detecting occurrence of the disaster event 114, themonitoring server 160 obtains sensor data 125, via control unit 110,uses the sensor data 125 to generate an alert 175 that includes an eventassessment report 180. For example, the monitoring server 160 packagesobtained sensor data 125 into a short assessment report 180 andtransmits an alert 175 that includes the report 180 to the mobile device140 of user (property manager) 108. For example, the alert 175 can statethat “USGS reported an earthquake, magnitude 7.5, which may haveaffected your locations in [Zone Name]. Sensors and video data confirmunusual activity at and/or damage to 5 of your property locations within[Zone Name].”

In some implementations, the alert 175 includes at least one hyperlinkto perform one or more of the following actions: a) an ignore action; b)perform default bulk actions; or c) perform custom bulk actions. Forboth actions b) and c, the user 108 can specify, e.g., based on the setof preferences, which property locations in a particular zone 104 theuser wants to apply actions to. In some implementations, the system 100defaults to applying a particular action to all locations, unlessinstructed otherwise by the user 108. In some cases, if the user 108does not respond to the alert 175 within a predefined timeout period,then the monitoring server 160 performs a default action in accordancewith the user's set of preferences or in accordance with one or moreback-up bulk action preferences that may be automatically defined by themonitoring server 160. The predefined timeout period can be a userspecified timeout period or a timeout period that is automaticallydefined by the monitoring server 160.

The ignore action (a) would be relevant if a disaster event 114 seemsinsignificant or sensors/cameras 120 are unable to verify damage orunusual activity at property 102. For the default bulk actions (b),monitoring server 160 is configured to show or indicate the specifictypes of bulk actions that are included in a set of default bulkactions. For example, if an earthquake disaster event 114 is detected,the set of default actions can include: i) turn off water and gas lines;ii) turn off all appliances; iii) alert authorities via a security panelat all property locations where sensors 120 confirmed damaged to items;or iv) send text messages to local managers/tenants with relevant safetyinformation. For the custom bulk actions (c), monitoring server 160 isconfigured such that a user 108 is presented with a list of bulk actionsfrom which the user can quickly and efficiently select and apply asubset of bulk actions to particular properties 102 within a given zone104.

FIG. 1 includes stages A through D, which represent a flow of data. Instage (A), each of the one or more sensors 120 generate sensor data 125including video data and digital images as well as parameter values thatdescribe different types of sensed activity at the property 102. In someimplementations, the control unit 110 (e.g., located at the property102) collects and sends the sensor data 125 to the remote monitoringserver 160 for processing and analysis at the monitoring server.

In stage (B), the monitoring server 160 receives or obtains sensor data125 from the control unit 110. As discussed above, the monitoring server160 can communicate electronically with the control unit 110 through awireless network, such as a cellular telephony or data network, throughany of various communication protocols (e.g., GSM, LTE, CDMA, 3G, 4G,5G, 802.11 family, etc.). In some implementations, the monitoring server160 receives or obtains sensor data 125 from the individual sensorsrather than from control unit 110.

In stage (C), the monitoring server 160 analyzes the sensor signal data125 and/or other property data received from the control unit 110 ordirectly from sensors/devices 120 located at the property 102. Asindicated above, the monitoring server 160 analyzes the sensor data 125to determine whether items at a property 102 have been damaged orotherwise adversely affected by disaster event 114. In someimplementations, sensors 120 are configured to generate image data,motion data, or other related activity sensor data 125 every second,every two seconds, or based on some other predefined time schedule. Thesensor data 125 can be recorded to a control unit 110 (e.g., every twoseconds) after being obtained by the sensor 120.

In some cases, the sensor data 125 is transmitted to monitoring server160, where server 160 determines one or more usage or activity patternsand data correlations based on analysis of the sensor data 125. Themonitoring server 160 can build a suspected event history in response toanalyzing sensor data 125 generated by each of the different sensors 120located at the property 102. In other cases, analysis of sensor data 125is performed on a local sensing device of system 100, as differentevents relating to item damage from a disaster event 114 are detectedlocally at each sensor 120.

Based on the data analysis, in stage (D), the monitoring server 160performs various actions. In some cases, the monitoring server 160performs the various actions as a default function based on thepredefined preferences in the set of preferences that were previouslyconfigured. In other cases, the monitoring server 160 performs thevarious actions in response to receiving user commands from mobiledevice 140. For example, the monitoring server 160 can initiate sensormonitoring, send notifications or alerts to mobile device 140, receiveresponse commands from mobile device 140, arm individual properties 102in distinct zones 104, perform bulk actions to arm/disarm multipleproperties 102 within different zones 104.

In some implementations, the monitoring server 160 is configured togenerate a notification or disaster alert 175 that is provided foroutput at device 140. The notification can include a report 180 thatshows, describes, or otherwise indicates a condition of items located atthe property within a zone. In some cases, the notification or alert 175(e.g., a text message or e-mail) includes embedded code, such as anactive web-link or uniform resource locator (URL), configured to detectuser input that interacts with the notification. The detected user inputcan trigger retrieval of the report 180 for display at the mobile device140.

Though the stages are described above in order of (A) through (D), it isto be understood that other sequencings are possible and disclosed bythe present description. For example, in some implementations, themonitoring server 160 may receive sensor data 125 from the control unit110 that includes both sensor status information and usage data 126 foreach sensor 120. In some cases, aspects of one or more stages may beomitted. For example, in some implementations, the monitoring server 160may receive and/or analyze sensor data 125 that includes only usageinformation rather than both sensor status information and usage data.

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B each show a respective example process 200, 250 forperforming one or more bulk actions at a property 102. In particular,process 200 corresponds to an example user workflow associated with oneor more alerts that may be generated by system 100 using the monitoringserver 160. Process 200, 250 can each be implemented or performed usingthe systems described in this document. Descriptions of process 200, 250may reference one or more of the above-mentioned computing resources ofsystem 100. In some implementations, steps of process 200, 250 areenabled by programmed instructions that are executable by processingdevices of the systems described in this document.

Referring now to process 200 of FIG. 2A, the monitoring server 160generates an example alert that includes text-based information about adisaster event that may have affected one or more properties within azone that is associated with a user, e.g., an occupant, tenant, orproperty manager of the one or more properties (202). In someimplementations, the alert may indicate that a sensor at one of theproperties, within a zone or location assigned to the user, confirmedunusual activity at the property and/or damage to an item at theproperty. The alert can include one or more active links 212. At leastone link can used to obtain a report that provides additional detailsabout the unusual activity or damage to the item.

A user, e.g., a property manager or occupant that typically resides atthe property, can interact with at least one active link labeled “ViewReport” to obtain the report or view the additional details within thereport (204). For example, the report can include a breakdown of thesensor/video data that was obtained or generated by sensors positionedat one or more affected locations at the property or within a givenzone. In some implementations, an interface screen that displays thereport can include options ignoring the report or continuing to aparticular section of the report (214).

The alert can also include options for applying one or more default bulkactions (206). In some implementations, the alert can include a listingof default bulk actions that is presented for selection to a user. Forexample, the listing of default bulk actions may be presented to theuser based on a set of references for the user that were previouslyconfigured by the monitoring server 160. In some implementations, theuser manually configures the set of preferences by interacting with themonitoring server 160 via an example application program. The alert caninclude selectable options for selecting one or more zones or locationsincluding properties at each location. The alert can also includeoptions for adjusting settings or preferences of the user as well as fordeveloping customized actions (e.g., default bulk actions) that can beperformed by a property monitoring system when a disaster event occursnear the property (216).

The alert can also provide a list of bulk actions with associatedcheckboxes (208). For example, when the user selects to definecustomized actions the workflow can be configured to present a listingof bulk actions. In some implementations, the alert corresponds to anexample workflow and steps or processes of the workflow are representedat different visual interfaces of an application program. For example,at one interface of the workflow, the user can interact with an optionfor selecting from the different properties, zones, or locations thatare assigned to the user (218). In response to clicking, selecting, orotherwise interacting with an option to “Select Locations,” the system100 can then present a listing of affected locations, e.g., withcheckboxes, to the user (210). The user can select (using thecheckboxes) one or more locations from the list of affected locations tocause the system 100 to apply a particular default bulk action if adisaster event is detected within a threshold proximity to a property, azone, or a location assigned to the user (210). The system 100 thenapplies the selected actions to the selected locations (222).

Referring now to process 250 of FIG. 2B, the monitoring server 160obtains data that defines a zone among multiple zones, where each zoneof the multiple zones can be related to a respective geographic location(252). For example, the monitoring server 160 can include a database ofproperties that are each located at different geographic locations. Themonitoring server 160 can be configured to obtain data associated witheach property so as to define one or more zones, where each zoneincludes one or more properties. For example, at least one zone caninclude a set of properties, where the set includes multiple relatedproperties. In some cases, properties in a set are related when eachproperty is managed by the same property manager or property managemententity.

The monitoring server 160 configures a set of preferences for each zoneamong the multiple zones (254). In some implementations, at least onepreference in the set of preferences is for a predefined command thatused by the monitoring server 160 for responding to a particular event,such as a disaster event. For example, at least one predefined commandcan trigger or cause a particular security action to be executed by anexample property monitoring system. The property monitoring system canbe connected to multiple distinct sensors at one or more properties inthe set of properties. The various preferences that can be configuredare described in more detail below.

System 100 detects an occurrence of a disaster event that affects aparticular geographic location (256). For example, the monitoring server160 can periodically receive data (e.g., new data) from an externaldatabase 145. In some implementations, the external database 145 is aprivate database or a public database, such as a government servicesdatabases that tracks storms and records magnitudes of earthquakes. Themonitoring server 160 determines whether the particular geographiclocation that is affected by the disaster event is related to a firstzone that is defined at the monitoring server (258).

For example, the monitoring server 160 obtains new data from an examplepublic database and uses the disaster event detection engine 170 toanalyze the new data. Detection engine 170 analyzes the new data toidentify a location of the disaster event. Based on the analysis, thedetection engine 170 may detect that one or more zones includeproperties that are located within a threshold distance of the disasterevent. Hence, the monitoring server 160 uses the detection engine 170 todetermine whether the particular geographic location that is affected bythe disaster event is related to one or more zones based on thedetection engine 170 detecting that at least one property in the zone islocated within a threshold distance of the disaster event.

In response to monitoring server 160 determining that the particulargeographic location affected by the disaster event is related to thefirst zone, a property monitoring system that is connected to a propertyin the first zone obtains sensor data generated by a sensor located atthe first zone (260). For example, the sensor can be connected to aproperty monitoring system of the first zone. As discussed above, thesensor(s) at the property is configured to generate sensor data (e.g.,image data) providing visual imagery or graphical depictions that showor indicate a condition of items located at a property in the firstzone.

Based on the sensor data obtained from the sensor, the monitoring servergenerates an alert 175 that includes a report (262). The report 180provides an assessment of how the disaster event affects an item at aproperty in the first zone. For example, the monitoring server 160receives the obtained visual image data from the property monitoringsystem and processes the image data to generate the report 180 that isincluded in the alert 175. The monitoring server 160 can process theimage data to determine whether the disaster event has moved or damageditems at the property in the first zone. In some implementations, thereport 180 is configured or formatted so as to clearly indicate whetherthe disaster event has caused damaged to items at a property. Forexample, the monitoring server 160 can embed images obtained from thesensor in the report 180 to provide a visual of conditions at theproperty. System 100 uses the monitoring server 160 to provide the alert175, along with the report 180, to a client/mobile device of an entitythat manages the property in the first zone (262).

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a property monitoringsystem 300. The electronic system 300 includes a network 305, a controlunit 310, one or more user devices 340 and 350, a monitoring server 360,and a central alarm station server 370. In some examples, the network305 facilitates communications between the control unit 310, the one ormore user devices 340 and 350, the monitoring server 360, and thecentral alarm station server 370.

The network 305 is configured to enable exchange of electroniccommunications between devices connected to the network 305. Forexample, the network 305 may be configured to enable exchange ofelectronic communications between the control unit 310, the one or moreuser devices 340 and 350, the monitoring server 360, and the centralalarm station server 370. In some implementations, the monitoring server360 is configured to communicate with multiple property monitoringsystems that are associated with respective properties of a zone 104.For example, the monitoring server 360 can use the central alarm stationserver 370 to communicate with the property monitoring systems for eachof the properties 102 in zone 104. In some instances, the monitoringserver 360 can use the central alarm station server 370 to perform oneor more default bulk actions, such as actions for bulk arming, orde-arming, multiple property locations in a zone.

The network 305 may include, for example, one or more of the Internet,Wide Area Networks (WANs), Local Area Networks (LANs), analog or digitalwired and wireless telephone networks (e.g., a public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a cellularnetwork, and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), radio, television, cable,satellite, or any other delivery or tunneling mechanism for carryingdata. Network 305 may include multiple networks or subnetworks, each ofwhich may include, for example, a wired or wireless data pathway. Thenetwork 305 may include a circuit-switched network, a packet-switcheddata network, or any other network able to carry electroniccommunications (e.g., data or voice communications). For example, thenetwork 305 may include networks based on the Internet protocol (IP),asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), the PSTN, packet-switched networksbased on IP, X.25, or Frame Relay, or other comparable technologies andmay support voice using, for example, VoIP, or other comparableprotocols used for voice communications. The network 305 may include oneor more networks that include wireless data channels and wireless voicechannels. The network 305 may be a wireless network, a broadbandnetwork, or a combination of networks including a wireless network and abroadband network.

The control unit 310 includes a controller 312 and a network module 314.The controller 312 is configured to control a control unit monitoringsystem (e.g., a control unit system) that includes the control unit 310.In some examples, the controller 312 may include a processor or othercontrol circuitry configured to execute instructions of a program thatcontrols operation of a control unit system. In these examples, thecontroller 312 may be configured to receive input from sensors, flowmeters, or other devices included in the control unit system and controloperations of devices included in the household (e.g., speakers, lights,doors, etc.). For example, the controller 312 may be configured tocontrol operation of the network module 314 included in the control unit310.

The network module 314 is a communication device configured to exchangecommunications over the network 305. The network module 314 may be awireless communication module configured to exchange wirelesscommunications over the network 305. For example, the network module 314may be a wireless communication device configured to exchangecommunications over a wireless data channel and a wireless voicechannel. In this example, the network module 314 may transmit alarm dataover a wireless data channel and establish a two-way voice communicationsession over a wireless voice channel. The wireless communication devicemay include one or more of a LTE module, a GSM module, a radio modem,cellular transmission module, or any type of module configured toexchange communications in one of the following formats: LTE, GSM orGPRS, CDMA, EDGE or EGPRS, EV-DO or EVDO, UMTS, or IP.

The network module 314 also may be a wired communication moduleconfigured to exchange communications over the network 305 using a wiredconnection. For instance, the network module 314 may be a modem, anetwork interface card, or another type of network interface device. Thenetwork module 314 may be an Ethernet network card configured to enablethe control unit 310 to communicate over a local area network and/or theInternet. The network module 314 also may be a voice band modemconfigured to enable the alarm panel to communicate over the telephonelines of Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS).

The control unit system that includes the control unit 310 includes oneor more sensors. For example, the monitoring system may include multiplesensors 320. The sensors 320 may include a lock sensor, a contactsensor, a motion sensor, or any other type of sensor included in acontrol unit system. The sensors 320 also may include an environmentalsensor, such as a temperature sensor, a water sensor, a rain sensor, awind sensor, a light sensor, a smoke detector, a carbon monoxidedetector, an air quality sensor, etc. The sensors 320 further mayinclude a health monitoring sensor, such as a prescription bottle sensorthat monitors taking of prescriptions, a blood pressure sensor, a bloodsugar sensor, a bed mat configured to sense presence of liquid (e.g.,bodily fluids) on the bed mat, etc. In some examples, the healthmonitoring sensor can be a wearable sensor that attaches to a user inthe home. The health monitoring sensor can collect various health data,including pulse, heart-rate, respiration rate, sugar or glucose level,bodily temperature, or motion data.

The sensors 320 can also include a radio-frequency identification (RFID)sensor that identifies a particular article that includes a pre-assignedRFID tag.

The control unit 310 communicates with the home automation controls 322and a camera 330 to perform monitoring. The home automation controls 322are connected to one or more devices that enable automation of actionsin the home. For instance, the home automation controls 322 may beconnected to one or more lighting systems and may be configured tocontrol operation of the one or more lighting systems. Also, the homeautomation controls 322 may be connected to one or more electronic locksat the home and may be configured to control operation of the one ormore electronic locks (e.g., control Z-Wave locks using wirelesscommunications in the Z-Wave protocol). Further, the home automationcontrols 322 may be connected to one or more appliances at the home andmay be configured to control operation of the one or more appliances.The home automation controls 322 may include multiple modules that areeach specific to the type of device being controlled in an automatedmanner. The home automation controls 322 may control the one or moredevices based on commands received from the control unit 310. Forinstance, the home automation controls 322 may cause a lighting systemto illuminate an area to provide a better image of the area whencaptured by a camera 330.

The camera 330 may be a video/photographic camera or other type ofoptical sensing device configured to capture images. For instance, thecamera 330 may be configured to capture images of an area within abuilding or home monitored by the control unit 310. The camera 330 maybe configured to capture single, static images of the area and alsovideo images of the area in which multiple images of the area arecaptured at a relatively high frequency (e.g., thirty images persecond). The camera 330 may be controlled based on commands receivedfrom the control unit 310.

The camera 330 may be triggered by several different types oftechniques. For instance, a Passive Infra-Red (PIR) motion sensor may bebuilt into the camera 330 and used to trigger the camera 330 to captureone or more images when motion is detected. The camera 330 also mayinclude a microwave motion sensor built into the camera and used totrigger the camera 330 to capture one or more images when motion isdetected. The camera 330 may have a “normally open” or “normally closed”digital input that can trigger capture of one or more images whenexternal sensors (e.g., the sensors 320, PIR, door/window, etc.) detectmotion or other events. In some implementations, the camera 330 receivesa command to capture an image when external devices detect motion oranother potential alarm event. The camera 330 may receive the commandfrom the controller 312 or directly from one of the sensors 320.

In some examples, the camera 330 triggers integrated or externalilluminators (e.g., Infra-Red, Z-wave controlled “white” lights, lightscontrolled by the home automation controls 322, etc.) to improve imagequality when the scene is dark. An integrated or separate light sensormay be used to determine if illumination is desired and may result inincreased image quality.

The camera 330 may be programmed with any combination of time/dayschedules, system “arming state”, or other variables to determinewhether images should be captured or not when triggers occur. The camera330 may enter a low-power mode when not capturing images. In this case,the camera 330 may wake periodically to check for inbound messages fromthe controller 312. The camera 330 may be powered by internal,replaceable batteries if located remotely from the control unit 310. Thecamera 330 may employ a small solar cell to recharge the battery whenlight is available. Alternatively, the camera 330 may be powered by thecontroller's 312 power supply if the camera 330 is co-located with thecontroller 312.

In some implementations, the camera 330 communicates directly with themonitoring server 360 over the Internet. In these implementations, imagedata captured by the camera 330 does not pass through the control unit310 and the camera 330 receives commands related to operation from themonitoring server 360.

The system 300 also includes thermostat 334 to perform dynamicenvironmental control at the home. The thermostat 334 is configured tomonitor temperature and/or energy consumption of an HVAC systemassociated with the thermostat 334, and is further configured to providecontrol of environmental (e.g., temperature) settings. In someimplementations, the thermostat 334 can additionally or alternativelyreceive data relating to activity at a home and/or environmental data ata home, e.g., at various locations indoors and outdoors at the home. Thethermostat 334 can directly measure energy consumption of the HVACsystem associated with the thermostat, or can estimate energyconsumption of the HVAC system associated with the thermostat 334, forexample, based on detected usage of one or more components of the HVACsystem associated with the thermostat 334. The thermostat 334 cancommunicate temperature and/or energy monitoring information to or fromthe control unit 310 and can control the environmental (e.g.,temperature) settings based on commands received from the control unit310.

In some implementations, the thermostat 334 is a dynamicallyprogrammable thermostat and can be integrated with the control unit 310.For example, the dynamically programmable thermostat 334 can include thecontrol unit 310, e.g., as an internal component to the dynamicallyprogrammable thermostat 334. In addition, the control unit 310 can be agateway device that communicates with the dynamically programmablethermostat 334. In some implementations, the thermostat 334 iscontrolled via one or more home automation controls 322.

A module 337 is connected to one or more components of an HVAC systemassociated with a home, and is configured to control operation of theone or more components of the HVAC system. In some implementations, themodule 337 is also configured to monitor energy consumption of the HVACsystem components, for example, by directly measuring the energyconsumption of the HVAC system components or by estimating the energyusage of the one or more HVAC system components based on detecting usageof components of the HVAC system. The module 337 can communicate energymonitoring information and the state of the HVAC system components tothe thermostat 334 and can control the one or more components of theHVAC system based on commands received from the thermostat 334.

In some examples, the system 300 further includes one or more roboticdevices 390. The robotic devices 390 may be any type of robots that arecapable of moving and taking actions that assist in home monitoring. Forexample, the robotic devices 390 may include drones that are capable ofmoving throughout a home based on automated control technology and/oruser input control provided by a user. In this example, the drones maybe able to fly, roll, walk, or otherwise move about the home. The dronesmay include helicopter type devices (e.g., quad copters), rollinghelicopter type devices (e.g., roller copter devices that can fly andalso roll along the ground, walls, or ceiling) and land vehicle typedevices (e.g., automated cars that drive around a home). In some cases,the robotic devices 390 may be devices that are intended for otherpurposes and merely associated with the system 300 for use inappropriate circumstances. For instance, a robotic vacuum cleaner devicemay be associated with the monitoring system 300 as one of the roboticdevices 390 and may be controlled to take action responsive tomonitoring system events.

In some examples, the robotic devices 390 automatically navigate withina home. In these examples, the robotic devices 390 include sensors andcontrol processors that guide movement of the robotic devices 390 withinthe home. For instance, the robotic devices 390 may navigate within thehome using one or more cameras, one or more proximity sensors, one ormore gyroscopes, one or more accelerometers, one or more magnetometers,a global positioning system (GPS) unit, an altimeter, one or more sonaror laser sensors, and/or any other types of sensors that aid innavigation about a space. The robotic devices 390 may include controlprocessors that process output from the various sensors and control therobotic devices 390 to move along a path that reaches the desireddestination and avoids obstacles. In this regard, the control processorsdetect walls or other obstacles in the home and guide movement of therobotic devices 390 in a manner that avoids the walls and otherobstacles.

In addition, the robotic devices 390 may store data that describesattributes of the home. For instance, the robotic devices 390 may storea floorplan and/or a three-dimensional model of the home that enablesthe robotic devices 390 to navigate the home. During initialconfiguration, the robotic devices 390 may receive the data describingattributes of the home, determine a frame of reference to the data(e.g., a home or reference location in the home), and navigate the homebased on the frame of reference and the data describing attributes ofthe home. Further, initial configuration of the robotic devices 390 alsomay include learning of one or more navigation patterns in which a userprovides input to control the robotic devices 390 to perform a specificnavigation action (e.g., fly to an upstairs bedroom and spin aroundwhile capturing video and then return to a home charging base). In thisregard, the robotic devices 390 may learn and store the navigationpatterns such that the robotic devices 390 may automatically repeat thespecific navigation actions upon a later request.

In some examples, the robotic devices 390 may include data capture andrecording devices. In these examples, the robotic devices 390 mayinclude one or more cameras, one or more motion sensors, one or moremicrophones, one or more biometric data collection tools, one or moretemperature sensors, one or more humidity sensors, one or more air flowsensors, and/or any other types of sensors that may be useful incapturing monitoring data related to the home and users in the home. Theone or more biometric data collection tools may be configured to collectbiometric samples of a person in the home with or without contact of theperson. For instance, the biometric data collection tools may include afingerprint scanner, a hair sample collection tool, a skin cellcollection tool, and/or any other tool that allows the robotic devices390 to take and store a biometric sample that can be used to identifythe person (e.g., a biometric sample with DNA that can be used for DNAtesting).

In some implementations, the robotic devices 390 may include outputdevices. In these implementations, the robotic devices 390 may includeone or more displays, one or more speakers, and/or any type of outputdevices that allow the robotic devices 390 to communicate information toa nearby user.

The robotic devices 390 also may include a communication module thatenables the robotic devices 390 to communicate with the control unit310, each other, and/or other devices. The communication module may be awireless communication module that allows the robotic devices 390 tocommunicate wirelessly. For instance, the communication module may be aWi-Fi module that enables the robotic devices 390 to communicate over alocal wireless network at the home. The communication module further maybe a 900 MHz wireless communication module that enables the roboticdevices 390 to communicate directly with the control unit 310. Othertypes of short-range wireless communication protocols, such asBluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Z-wave, Zigbee, etc., may be used to allow therobotic devices 390 to communicate with other devices in the home. Insome implementations, the robotic devices 390 may communicate with eachother or with other devices of the system 300 through the network 305.

The robotic devices 390 further may include processor and storagecapabilities. The robotic devices 390 may include any suitableprocessing devices that enable the robotic devices 390 to operateapplications and perform the actions described throughout thisdisclosure. In addition, the robotic devices 390 may include solid stateelectronic storage that enables the robotic devices 390 to storeapplications, configuration data, collected sensor data, and/or anyother type of information available to the robotic devices 390.

The robotic devices 390 are associated with one or more chargingstations. The charging stations may be located at predefined home baseor reference locations in the home. The robotic devices 390 may beconfigured to navigate to the charging stations after completion oftasks needed to be performed for the monitoring system 300. Forinstance, after completion of a monitoring operation or upon instructionby the control unit 310, the robotic devices 390 may be configured toautomatically fly to and land on one of the charging stations. In thisregard, the robotic devices 390 may automatically maintain a fullycharged battery in a state in which the robotic devices 390 are readyfor use by the monitoring system 300.

The charging stations may be contact based charging stations and/orwireless charging stations. For contact based charging stations, therobotic devices 390 may have readily accessible points of contact thatthe robotic devices 390 are capable of positioning and mating with acorresponding contact on the charging station. For instance, ahelicopter type robotic device may have an electronic contact on aportion of its landing gear that rests on and mates with an electronicpad of a charging station when the helicopter type robotic device landson the charging station. The electronic contact on the robotic devicemay include a cover that opens to expose the electronic contact when therobotic device is charging and closes to cover and insulate theelectronic contact when the robotic device is in operation.

For wireless charging stations, the robotic devices 390 may chargethrough a wireless exchange of power. In these cases, the roboticdevices 390 need only locate themselves closely enough to the wirelesscharging stations for the wireless exchange of power to occur. In thisregard, the positioning needed to land at a predefined home base orreference location in the home may be less precise than with a contactbased charging station. Based on the robotic devices 390 landing at awireless charging station, the wireless charging station outputs awireless signal that the robotic devices 390 receive and convert to apower signal that charges a battery maintained on the robotic devices390.

In some implementations, each of the robotic devices 390 has acorresponding and assigned charging station such that the number ofrobotic devices 390 equals the number of charging stations. In theseimplementations, the robotic devices 390 always navigate to the specificcharging station assigned to that robotic device. For instance, a firstrobotic device may always use a first charging station and a secondrobotic device may always use a second charging station.

In some examples, the robotic devices 390 may share charging stations.For instance, the robotic devices 390 may use one or more communitycharging stations that are capable of charging multiple robotic devices390. The community charging station may be configured to charge multiplerobotic devices 390 in parallel. The community charging station may beconfigured to charge multiple robotic devices 390 in serial such thatthe multiple robotic devices 390 take turns charging and, when fullycharged, return to a predefined home base or reference location in thehome that is not associated with a charger. The number of communitycharging stations may be less than the number of robotic devices 390.

Also, the charging stations may not be assigned to specific roboticdevices 390 and may be capable of charging any of the robotic devices390. In this regard, the robotic devices 390 may use any suitable,unoccupied charging station when not in use. For instance, when one ofthe robotic devices 390 has completed an operation or is in need ofbattery charge, the control unit 310 references a stored table of theoccupancy status of each charging station and instructs the roboticdevice to navigate to the nearest charging station that is unoccupied.

The system 300 further includes one or more integrated security devices380. The one or more integrated security devices may include any type ofdevice used to provide alerts based on received sensor data. Forinstance, the one or more control units 310 may provide one or morealerts to the one or more integrated security input/output devices 380.Additionally, the one or more control units 310 may receive one or moresensor data from the sensors 320 and determine whether to provide analert 175 to the one or more integrated security input/output devices380.

The sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, the camera 330, thethermostat 334, and the integrated security devices 380 may communicatewith the controller 312 over communication links 324, 326, 328, 332,338, and 384. The communication links 324, 326, 328, 332, 338, and 384may be a wired or wireless data pathway configured to transmit signalsfrom the sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, the camera 330,the thermostat 334, and the integrated security devices 380 to thecontroller 312. The sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, thecamera 330, the thermostat 334, and the integrated security devices 380may continuously transmit sensed values to the controller 312,periodically transmit sensed values to the controller 312, or transmitsensed values to the controller 312 in response to a change in a sensedvalue.

The communication links 324, 326, 328, 332, 338, and 384 may include alocal network. The sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, thecamera 330, the thermostat 334, and the integrated security devices 380,and the controller 312 may exchange data and commands over the localnetwork. The local network may include 802.11 “Wi-Fi” wireless Ethernet(e.g., using low-power Wi-Fi chipsets), Z-Wave, Zigbee, Bluetooth,“Homeplug” or other “Powerline” networks that operate over AC wiring,and a Category 5 (CATS) or Category 6 (CAT6) wired Ethernet network. Thelocal network may be a mesh network constructed based on the devicesconnected to the mesh network.

The monitoring server 360 is an electronic device configured to providemonitoring services by exchanging electronic communications with thecontrol unit 310, the one or more user devices 340 and 350, and thecentral alarm station server 370 over the network 305. For example, themonitoring server 360 may be configured to monitor events (e.g., alarmevents) generated by the control unit 310. In this example, themonitoring server 360 may exchange electronic communications with thenetwork module 314 included in the control unit 310 to receiveinformation regarding events (e.g., alerts) detected by the control unit310. The monitoring server 360 also may receive information regardingevents (e.g., alerts) from the one or more user devices 340 and 350.

In some examples, the monitoring server 360 may route alert datareceived from the network module 314 or the one or more user devices 340and 350 to the central alarm station server 370. For example, themonitoring server 360 may transmit the alert data (e.g., alert 175) tothe central alarm station server 370 over the network 305.

The monitoring server 360 may store sensor and image data received frommultiple property monitoring systems and perform analysis of sensor andimage data received from the monitoring systems. Based on the analysis,the monitoring server 360 may communicate with and control aspects ofthe control unit 310 or the one or more user devices 340 and 350.

The monitoring server 360 may provide various monitoring services to thesystem 300. For example, the monitoring server 360 may analyze thesensor, image, and other data to determine an activity pattern of aresident of the home monitored by the system 300 or whether certainactivities or activity patterns indicate damage to items at the propertyor home due to a disaster event. In some implementations, the monitoringserver 360 may analyze the data for alarm conditions or may determineand perform actions (e.g., bulk location-based actions) at the home orproperty by issuing commands to one or more of the controls 322,possibly through the control unit 310.

The central alarm station server 370 is an electronic device configuredto provide alarm monitoring service by exchanging communications withthe control unit 310, the one or more mobile devices 340 and 350, andthe monitoring server 360 over the network 305. For example, the centralalarm station server 370 may be configured to monitor alerting eventsgenerated by the control unit 310. In this example, the central alarmstation server 370 may exchange communications with the network module314 included in the control unit 310 to receive information regardingalerting events detected by the control unit 310. The central alarmstation server 370 also may receive information regarding alertingevents from the one or more mobile devices 340 and 350 and/or themonitoring server 360.

The central alarm station server 370 is connected to multiple terminals372 and 374. The terminals 372 and 374 may be used by operators toprocess alerting events. For example, the central alarm station server370 may route alerting data to the terminals 372 and 374 to enable anoperator to process the alerting data. The terminals 372 and 374 mayinclude general-purpose computers (e.g., desktop personal computers,workstations, or laptop computers) that are configured to receivealerting data from a server in the central alarm station server 370 andrender a display of information based on the alerting data. Forinstance, the controller 312 may control the network module 314 totransmit, to the central alarm station server 370, alerting dataindicating that a sensor 320 detected motion from a motion sensor viathe sensors 320. The central alarm station server 370 may receive thealerting data and route the alerting data to the terminal 372 forprocessing by an operator associated with the terminal 372. The terminal372 may render a display to the operator that includes informationassociated with the alerting event (e.g., the lock sensor data, themotion sensor data, the contact sensor data, etc.) and the operator mayhandle the alerting event based on the displayed information.

In some implementations, the terminals 372 and 374 may be mobile devicesor devices designed for a specific function. Although FIG. 3 illustratestwo terminals for brevity, actual implementations may include more (and,perhaps, many more) terminals.

The one or more authorized user devices 340 and 350 are devices thathost and display user interfaces. For instance, the user device 340 is amobile device that hosts or runs one or more native applications (e.g.,the smart home application 342). The user device 340 may be a cellularphone or a non-cellular locally networked device with a display. Theuser device 340 may include a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, apersonal digital assistant (“PDA”), or any other portable deviceconfigured to communicate over a network and display information. Forexample, implementations may also include Blackberry-type devices (e.g.,as provided by Research in Motion), electronic organizers, iPhone-typedevices (e.g., as provided by Apple), iPod devices (e.g., as provided byApple) or other portable music players, other communication devices, andhandheld or portable electronic devices for gaming, communications,and/or data organization. The user device 340 may perform functionsunrelated to the monitoring system, such as placing personal telephonecalls, playing music, playing video, displaying pictures, browsing theInternet, maintaining an electronic calendar, etc.

The user device 340 includes a smart home application 342. The smarthome application 342 refers to a software/firmware program running onthe corresponding mobile device that enables the user interface andfeatures described throughout. The user device 340 may load or installthe smart home application 342 based on data received over a network ordata received from local media. The smart home application 342 runs onmobile devices platforms, such as iPhone, iPod touch, Blackberry, GoogleAndroid, Windows Mobile, etc. The smart home application 342 enables theuser device 340 to receive and process image and sensor data from themonitoring system.

The user device 350 may be a general-purpose computer (e.g., a desktoppersonal computer, a workstation, or a laptop computer) that isconfigured to communicate with the monitoring server 360 and/or thecontrol unit 310 over the network 305. The user device 350 may beconfigured to display a smart home user interface 352 that is generatedby the user device 350 or generated by the monitoring server 360. Forexample, the user device 350 may be configured to display a userinterface (e.g., a web page) provided by the monitoring server 360 thatenables a user to perceive images captured by the camera 330 and/orreports related to the monitoring system. Although FIG. 3 illustratestwo user devices for brevity, actual implementations may include more(and, perhaps, many more) or fewer user devices.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 340 and 350communicate with and receive monitoring system data from the controlunit 310 using the communication link 338. For instance, the one or moreuser devices 340 and 350 may communicate with the control unit 310 usingvarious local wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-wave,Zigbee, HomePlug (ethernet over power line), or wired protocols such asEthernet and USB, to connect the one or more user devices 340 and 350 tolocal security and automation equipment. The one or more user devices340 and 350 may connect locally to the monitoring system and its sensorsand other devices. The local connection may improve the speed of statusand control communications because communicating through the network 305with a remote server (e.g., the monitoring server 360) may besignificantly slower.

Although the one or more user devices 340 and 350 are shown ascommunicating with the control unit 310, the one or more user devices340 and 350 may communicate directly with the sensors and other devicescontrolled by the control unit 310. In some implementations, the one ormore user devices 340 and 350 replace the control unit 310 and performthe functions of the control unit 310 for local monitoring and longrange/offsite communication.

In other implementations, the one or more user devices 340 and 350receive monitoring system data captured by the control unit 310 throughthe network 305. The one or more user devices 340, 350 may receive thedata from the control unit 310 through the network 305 or the monitoringserver 360 may relay data received from the control unit 310 to the oneor more user devices 340 and 350 through the network 305. In thisregard, the monitoring server 360 may facilitate communication betweenthe one or more user devices 340 and 350 and the monitoring system.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 340 and 350 may beconfigured to switch whether the one or more user devices 340 and 350communicate with the control unit 310 directly (e.g., through link 338)or through the monitoring server 360 (e.g., through network 305) basedon a location of the one or more user devices 340 and 350. For instance,when the one or more user devices 340 and 350 are located close to thecontrol unit 310 and in range to communicate directly with the controlunit 310, the one or more user devices 340 and 350 use directcommunication. When the one or more user devices 340 and 350 are locatedfar from the control unit 310 and not in range to communicate directlywith the control unit 310, the one or more user devices 340 and 350 usecommunication through the monitoring server 360.

Although the one or more user devices 340 and 350 are shown as beingconnected to the network 305, in some implementations, the one or moreuser devices 340 and 350 are not connected to the network 305. In theseimplementations, the one or more user devices 340 and 350 communicatedirectly with one or more of the monitoring system components and nonetwork (e.g., Internet) connection or reliance on remote servers isneeded.

In some implementations, the one or more user devices 340 and 350 areused in conjunction with only local sensors and/or local devices in ahouse. In these implementations, the system 300 includes the one or moreuser devices 340 and 350, the sensors 320, the home automation controls322, the camera 330, and the robotic devices 390. The one or more userdevices 340 and 350 receive data directly from the sensors 320, the homeautomation controls 322, the camera 330, and the robotic devices 390 andsends data directly to the sensors 320, the home automation controls322, the camera 330, and the robotic devices 390. The one or more userdevices 340, 350 provide the appropriate interfaces/processing toprovide visual surveillance and reporting.

In other implementations, the system 300 further includes network 305and the sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, the camera 330,the thermostat 334, and the robotic devices 390 are configured tocommunicate sensor and image data to the one or more user devices 340and 350 over network 305 (e.g., the Internet, cellular network, etc.).In yet another implementation, the sensors 320, the home automationcontrols 322, the camera 330, the thermostat 334, and the roboticdevices 390 (or a component, such as a bridge/router) are intelligentenough to change the communication pathway from a direct local pathway,when the one or more user devices 340 and 350 are in close physicalproximity to the sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, thecamera 330, the thermostat 334, and the robotic devices 390, to apathway over network 305 when the one or more user devices 340 and 350are farther from the sensors 320, the home automation controls 322, thecamera 330, the thermostat 334, and the robotic devices 390.

In some examples, the system leverages GPS information from the one ormore user devices 340 and 350 to determine whether the one or more userdevices 340 and 350 are close enough to the sensors 320, the homeautomation controls 322, the camera 330, the thermostat 334, and therobotic devices 390 to use the direct local pathway or whether the oneor more user devices 340 and 350 are far enough from the sensors 320,the home automation controls 322, the camera 330, the thermostat 334,and the robotic devices 390 that the pathway over network 305 isrequired.

In other examples, the system leverages status communications (e.g.,pinging) between the one or more user devices 340 and 350 and thesensors 320, the home automation controls 322, the camera 330, thethermostat 334, and the robotic devices 390 to determine whethercommunication using the direct local pathway is possible. Ifcommunication using the direct local pathway is possible, the one ormore user devices 340 and 350 communicate with the sensors 320, the homeautomation controls 322, the camera 330, the thermostat 334, and therobotic devices 390 using the direct local pathway. If communicationusing the direct local pathway is not possible, the one or more userdevices 340 and 350 communicate with the sensors 320, the homeautomation controls 322, the camera 330, the thermostat 334, and therobotic devices 390 using the pathway over network 305.

In some implementations, the system 300 provides end users with accessto images captured by the camera 330 to aid in decision making. Thesystem 300 may transmit the images captured by the camera 330 over awireless WAN network to the user devices 340 and 350. Becausetransmission over a wireless WAN network may be relatively expensive,the system 300 can use several techniques to reduce costs whileproviding access to significant levels of useful visual information(e.g., compressing data, down-sampling data, sending data only overinexpensive LAN connections, or other techniques).

In some implementations, a state of the monitoring system and otherevents sensed by the monitoring system may be used to enable/disablevideo/image recording devices (e.g., the camera 330). In theseimplementations, the camera 330 may be set to capture images on aperiodic basis when the alarm system is armed in an “away” state, butset not to capture images when the alarm system is armed in a “home”state or disarmed. In addition, the camera 330 may be triggered to begincapturing images when the alarm system detects an event, such as analarm event, a door-opening event for a door that leads to an areawithin a field of view of the camera 330, or motion in the area withinthe field of view of the camera 330. In other implementations, thecamera 330 may capture images continuously, but the captured images maybe stored or transmitted over a network when needed.

FIG. 4 shows an example graphical interface 400 of an applicationprogram used to perform one or more actions at a property. As discussedabove, a property owner or resident communicates with the control unit110 through a software (“smart home”) application installed on theirmobile device 140. In some implementations, interface 400 is an exampleinterface that is generated for display at mobile/client device 140. Inother implementations, the one or more authorized user devices 340 and350 are also devices that host and display user interfaces such asinterface 400.

The interface 400 includes security feature 402 for enabling or arming asecurity system at a property owned or managed by the user. Theinterface 400 also includes a status bar 404 that provides a concisegrouping of information about a status or condition of propertiesassigned to the user. For example, the status bar 404 can inform theuser about the number of properties that are closed or open, warningsthat have been generated by a property monitoring system connected to aproperty, whether a security system at the property is armed ordisarmed, whether certain entry points are open or closed, and thenumber/type of active issues that are affecting the property.

The interface 400 can also include a digital map 406 of an examplelocation. The location can include a zone 408 that has one or moreproperties 102 located within the zone 408. The properties 102 may beaffected by a disaster event 114. Hence, the interface 400 can include agraphical disaster event icon that represents the particular type ofdisaster event that is affecting the properties 102 located within zone408. In some implementations, interface 400 represents an examplegraphical interface that is displayed to a property manager when theproperty manager accesses their user account via the smart homeapplication. The interactive features of interface 400 can be used bythe property manager to ensure the safety and security of theirproperties in respective zones that are indicated as being vulnerable toa natural disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C each show a breakdown of features by event type.For example, each of FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C shows a respective table 500,510, and 520 that includes information about different types of disasterevents and external databases 145 (e.g., public databases) that can beused to obtain data describing attributes of the disaster events. Thetables 500, 510, and 520 also include information about example sensors120 that may be located at a property 102 and the sensors correspondinguses. Various default bulk actions are also included at the respectivetables 500, 510, and 520. As described above, the bulk actions can beperformed by a property monitoring system in response to the monitoringserver determining that a disaster event has affected items at aproperty.

The described systems, methods, and techniques may be implemented indigital electronic circuitry, computer hardware, firmware, software, orin combinations of these elements. Apparatus implementing thesetechniques may include appropriate input and output devices, a computerprocessor, and a computer program product tangibly embodied in amachine-readable storage device for execution by a programmableprocessor. A process implementing these techniques may be performed by aprogrammable processor executing a program of instructions to performdesired functions by operating on input data and generating appropriateoutput. The techniques may be implemented in one or more computerprograms that are executable on a programmable system including at leastone programmable processor coupled to receive data and instructionsfrom, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system,at least one input device, and at least one output device.

Each computer program may be implemented in a high-level procedural orobject-oriented programming language, or in assembly or machine languageif desired; and in any case, the language may be a compiled orinterpreted language. Suitable processors include, by way of example,both general and special purpose microprocessors. Generally, a processorwill receive instructions and data from a read-only memory and/or arandom access memory. Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodyingcomputer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatilememory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, suchas Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices;magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM). Anyof the foregoing may be supplemented by, or incorporated in, speciallydesigned ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits).

It will be understood that various modifications may be made. Forexample, other useful implementations could be achieved if steps of thedisclosed techniques were performed in a different order and/or ifcomponents in the disclosed systems were combined in a different mannerand/or replaced or supplemented by other components. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:obtaining, at a monitoring server, data that defines a zone from among aplurality of zones; for each zone among the plurality of zones,configuring, by the monitoring server, a set of preferences, at leastone preference in the set of preferences being a command for respondingto an event; detecting an occurrence of a disaster event that affects aparticular geographic location; determining, by the monitoring server,whether the particular geographic location that is affected by thedisaster event is related to a first zone of the plurality of zones; inresponse to determining that the particular geographic location affectedby the disaster event is related to the first zone, obtaining sensordata generated by a sensor at a property located in the first zone, thesensor being connected to a property monitoring system of the property;based on the sensor data, determining, by the monitoring server, alikely effect of the disaster event on the property located in the firstzone; based on the likely effect of the disaster event on the propertyin the first zone, determining, by the monitoring server, a monitoringsystem action using the set of preferences configured by the monitoringserver; and providing, for output by the monitoring server and to eachproperty monitoring system of the property and other properties in thefirst zone, one or more commands to perform the monitoring systemaction.
 2. The method of claim 1, comprising: providing, by themonitoring server and based on the sensor data, a first command to theproperty monitoring system of the property in the first zone, or to arespective property monitoring system of the other properties located inthe first zone, using at least a predefined command in the set ofpreferences, wherein the predefined command causes each of the propertymonitoring systems to perform a specific action as a response measure tothe occurrence of the disaster event and a likely effect that thedisaster event has on the properties in the first zone.
 3. The method ofclaim 2, comprising: performing, by the respective property monitoringsystem of each property located in the first zone, the specific actionas the response measure, wherein the specific action comprises a bulkarming function that activates a security protocol of the respectiveproperty monitoring systems.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thesensor data indicates that an item located at the property in the firstzone is adversely affected by the disaster event.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein detecting the occurrence of the disaster event that affectsthe particular geographic location comprises: obtaining, by themonitoring server, new data from an external database, the new datadescribing one or more disaster events associated with certaingeographic locations; in response to processing the new data at themonitoring server, determining, by an event detection engine of themonitoring server, a geographic association between a location of theproperty in the first zone and a respective location of each of the oneor more disaster events; and detecting the occurrence of the disasterevent based on the determined association.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein determining that the particular geographic location affected bythe disaster event is related to the first zone comprises: determiningthat the first zone is within a threshold proximity of the particulargeographic location, wherein the threshold proximity corresponds to athreshold used to predict a likelihood that items at a property locatedin the first zone will be adversely affected by the disaster event. 7.The method of claim 2, wherein the set of preferences comprises one ormore of: an alert timeout preference; a user notification preference; adefault action preference; or an inaction preference.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the alert timeout preference specifies whether therespective property monitoring system of the property and otherproperties in the first zone: performs the default action preferenceafter a predefined timeout period ends without the monitoring serverreceiving a response to an alert that is provided to a client device ofan entity that manages each property located in the first zone; orselects the inaction preference after the predefined timeout period endswithout the monitoring server receiving a response to the alert.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the alert includes a disaster assessmentreport with one or more active links, and at least one active linkenables the client device to: adjust one or more preferences in the setof preferences; provide a second, different command to at least theproperty monitoring system of the property to cause that particularproperty monitoring system to perform a specific action; or transmit abulk action command to the respective property monitoring system foreach property in the first zone to cause each respective propertymonitoring system to concurrently perform a specific action.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, comprising: determining that no zone is defined for aparticular geographic location affected by the disaster event; inresponse to determining that no zone is defined for a particulargeographic location affected by the disaster event, automaticallydefining a new, second zone that is different than the first zone; andautomatically storing data that defines the new, second zone in astorage medium of the monitoring server.
 11. The method of claim 1,comprising: processing, by a predictive model of an event detectionengine of the monitoring server, the sensor data generated by the sensorat the property located in the first zone; in response to processing thesensor data, generating, by the predictive model, inferences about arespective condition of items located at the property in the first zonebased on parameter values in the sensor data that represent activitydetected by the sensor at the property; and determining, by the eventdetection engine and based on the inferences, that one or more of theitems located at the property in the first zone are adversely affectedby the disaster event.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the sensor atthe first zone comprises at least one of: an accelerometer sensor; aglass break sensor configured to detect damage to an item at theproperty in the first zone; and an item location sensor configured todetect a physical location of an item at the property relative to alocation of the first zone.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein thesensor at the property located in the first zone comprises at least oneof: a flood detection sensor; a gas or fluid sensor; a smoke detectionsensor; and a power sensor configured to detect a loss of electricalpower at the zone.
 14. A system, comprising: one or more processingdevices; and one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devicesstoring instructions that are executable by the one or more processingdevices to cause performance of operations comprising: obtaining, at amonitoring server, data that defines a zone from among a plurality ofzones; for each zone among the plurality of zones, configuring, by themonitoring server, a set of preferences, at least one preference in theset of preferences being a command for responding to an event; detectingan occurrence of a disaster event that affects a particular geographiclocation; determining, by the monitoring server, whether the particulargeographic location that is affected by the disaster event is related toa first zone of the plurality of zones; in response to determining thatthe particular geographic location affected by the disaster event isrelated to the first zone, obtaining sensor data generated by a sensorat a property located in the first zone, the sensor being connected to aproperty monitoring system of the property; based on the sensor data,determining, by the monitoring server, a likely effect of the disasterevent on the property located in the first zone; based on the likelyeffect of the disaster event on the property in the first zone,determining, by the monitoring server, a monitoring system action usingthe set of preferences configured by the monitoring server; andproviding, for output by the monitoring server and to each propertymonitoring system of the property and other properties in the firstzone, one or more commands to perform the monitoring system action. 15.The system of claim 14, wherein the operations comprise: providing, bythe monitoring server and based on the sensor data, a first command tothe property monitoring system of the property in the first zone, or toa respective property monitoring system of the other properties locatedin the first zone, using at least a predefined command in the set ofpreferences, wherein the predefined command causes each of the propertymonitoring systems to perform a specific action as a response measure tothe occurrence of the disaster event and a likely effect that thedisaster event has on the properties in the first zone.
 16. The systemof claim 15, wherein the operations comprise: performing, by therespective property monitoring system of each property located in thefirst zone, the specific action as the response measure, wherein thespecific action comprises a bulk arming function that activates asecurity protocol of the respective property monitoring systems.
 17. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein detecting the occurrence of the disasterevent that affects the particular geographic location comprises:obtaining, by the monitoring server, new data from an external database,the new data describing one or more disaster events associated withcertain geographic locations; in response to processing the new data atthe monitoring server, determining, by an event detection engine of themonitoring server, a geographic association between a location of theproperty in the first zone and a respective location of each of the oneor more disaster events; and detecting the occurrence of the disasterevent based on the determined association.
 18. The system of claim 14,wherein determining that the particular geographic location affected bythe disaster event is related to the first zone comprises: determiningthat the first zone is within a threshold proximity of the particulargeographic location, wherein the threshold proximity corresponds to athreshold used to predict a likelihood that items at a property locatedin the first zone will be adversely affected by the disaster event. 19.The system of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise: processing, bya predictive model of an event detection engine of the monitoringserver, the sensor data generated by the sensor at the property locatedin the first zone; in response to processing the sensor data,generating, by the predictive model, inferences about a respectivecondition of items located at the property in the first zone based onparameter values in the sensor data that represent activity detected bythe sensor at the property; and determining, by the event detectionengine and based on the inferences, that one or more of the itemslocated at the property in the first zone are adversely affected by thedisaster event.
 20. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storagedevices storing instructions that are executable by one or moreprocessing devices to cause performance of operations comprising:obtaining, at a monitoring server, data that defines a zone from among aplurality of zones; for each zone among the plurality of zones,configuring, by the monitoring server, a set of preferences, at leastone preference in the set of preferences being a command for respondingto an event; detecting an occurrence of a disaster event that affects aparticular geographic location; determining, by the monitoring server,whether the particular geographic location that is affected by thedisaster event is related to a first zone of the plurality of zones; inresponse to determining that the particular geographic location affectedby the disaster event is related to the first zone, obtaining sensordata generated by a sensor at a property located in the first zone, thesensor being connected to a property monitoring system of the property;based on the sensor data, determining, by the monitoring server, alikely effect of the disaster event on the property located in the firstzone; based on the likely effect of the disaster event on the propertyin the first zone, determining, by the monitoring server, a monitoringsystem action using the set of preferences configured by the monitoringserver; and providing, for output by the monitoring server and to eachproperty monitoring system of the property and other properties in thefirst zone, one or more commands to perform the monitoring systemaction.